Category: Drama

DESTINED: Film Review

By Yevette Renee

2019
Director: Qasim Basir
Screenwriter: Qasim Basir
Cast: Cory Hardrict, Hill Harper,   Jesse Metcalfe, Zulay Henao, Jason Dohring, La Anthony
Genre: Drama

Your Choices Will Determine Your Destiny

Writer and Director, Qasim Basir’s drama DESTINED travels the two parallel life of Rasheed/Sheed (Cory Hardrict) as he navigates through the inner city and corporate boardrooms.

Set in Detroit and filmed in the Motor City, the film provides an ideal backdrop to the violent and gritty life on the streets for Sheed, as he hustles his way to the top in the drug world and becomes a kingpin and for Rasheed, working as an architect in the city that gave us motor vehicle, wit6h his professional hustles up the corporate ladder.

Alternating back and forth between the two distinctly different stories can sometime be a challenge to keep up with, yet Basir does make an effort to provides assistance with understated changeovers as Rasheed pursues his goal of corporate dominance with a project that will have a major impact on the people he knows that still live in the hood and call it home and Sheed’s life on the street.

In addition to the great dual performances by Hardrict, you have Officer Holder/Dylan Holder (Jesse Metcalf), Officer Miller/Nathan Miller (Jason Dohring, who two characters add to the intrigue that is woven between Sheed and Rasheed’s world. Mayor Jones (Hill Harper) gives voice to the community that will be impacted by the gentrification of the projects being pursued by Rasheed. The issue of gentrification plagues far too many communities in America. Most of the people effected in these communities are the most vulnerable population who are unable to afford the cost of living in a place the called home. Giselle Porter, a girlfriend from the past (Zulay Henao) brings further drama.

Watching the lives of Sheed, an successful drug dealer and Rasheed, an equally successful architect, brings to mind a number of former drug dealers that have used their innate understanding of running a business that includes marketing strategies developed on the streets slinging dope, who have transferred their important skill set to lawful and very lucrative careers in entertainment. It makes me wonder how many more young men, given the opportunity, could transfer their skills learned on the street for good causes. It is certainly something worth thinking about.

DESTINED is a unique perspective on how the decisions we make in life, especially in our youth, can determine the path that is before us. A good film to see.

Runtime: 95 minutes

Production Companies: Confluential Films, Whitewater Films, Q Productions
Distributor: XLrator Media
Director/screenwriter: Qasim Basir
Producers: Tommy Oliver, Rick Rosenthal, Matt Ratner, Codie Elaine Oliver
Cast: Cory Hardrict, Jesse Metcalfe, Robert Christopher Riley, Margot Bingham, La La Anthony, Hill Harper, Jason Dorhing, Zulay Henao
Director of photography: Carmen Cabana
Production designer: Deirdre Elizabeth Govan
Editor: Rene Besson
Costume designers: June Abro, Lauren Waterstone
Composer: John Jennings Boyd